This collection of articles offers only a glimpse of the variety of topics that arise around the conversation table of which Walter Sawatsky is part. He converses in the three languages used in this book and is comfortably at home in many countries and contexts in Europe, West and East, new and old.

In recognition of a North American Mennonite’s continuing involvement among the churches of Europe, this collection of articles by some of the people who belong to that wider network has been assembled. The authors write as representatives of educational institutions, scholarly associations, mission agencies, and churches, but also as friends and colleagues who have been encouraged and inspired by Walter Sawatsky. It is an expression of deep appreciation for a person who has contributed faithfully, not only at numerous conferences and public gatherings, but also in many of Europe’s hidden places.

Above all, it is intended as an encouragement and welcome for Walter Sawatsky to continue his tireless historical and missiological reflection and connect many others to the conversation.

Issues of European missiology and recent church history have been somewhat neglected in recent years. This volume is intended to help fill the gap by bringing together essays by European scholars or those closely connected to that continent, from the United Kingdom to the Russian Federation. New information and fresh perspectives are presented both by familiar writers and some who are almost unknown to North American audiences. German and Russian articles include an English-language abstract.
The collection is inspired by the many ministries of Walter Sawatsky, the foremost North American Mennonite authority on the Christian church in the former Soviet Union and Europe and a prolific writer in the fields of church history and missiology.

Contributions by Aleksandr Beznosov, Oksana Beznosova, Johannes Dyck, Mark R. Elliott, Leonard Friesen, Hansulrich Gerber, Heinrich Klassen, Lawrence Klippenstein, Anne-Marie Kool , Alan Kreider, John A. Lapp, Paul Mojzes, Tatiana Nikolskaia, Bernhard Ott, Olena Panych, Peter F. Penner, Vladimir A. Popov, Mary Raber, Johannes Reimer, N. Gerald Shenk, William Yoder, Olga Zaprometova